The Flora of Derbyshire - Checklist, Maps and Sample Accounts

THIS IS A DRAFT

The species account below is an early version, drafted around 2003. It has been provided here to aid understanding, but please be aware it may not fully tally with the up-to-date map and statistics shown below.

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Dates
First year: 1789
Latest year: 2003

County Status
Native

Family
Campanulaceae

Total records held
65

Grid Square Count

1987-2007	Ever
Monads: 8	27
Tetrads: 8	27
Hectads: 8	22

Conservation Status
B, A, AA

Account last edited
Jul 15 2003

Explanation of terms

Species Details

Sheep’s-bit is a very rare native annual or short-lived perennial of grassy places and rocky areas on well-drained acid soils. Current records, bar one, are from the upland north-western part of the county, mostly the Dark Peak (Dale Head SK1084). The other record is from the south of the county at Hartshorne (SK3221). Previous records came from the same area and throughout the lowland parts of the county (Dale SK4388 and Netherseal SK2715) though they still avoided the limestone areas. Nationally the plant is locally common in the west of the country. However, it has much declined since 1962 in central England due to agricultural improvement and competition from coarser vegetation (Preston et al. 2002).

This plant is in Category 5b of the local Red Data List, 2009.